ABSTRACT
When the Spaniards began the conquest of Yucatan, the Maya empire had long collapsed, and the Mayas were divided into small rival principalities. In 1526, Cortes sent Francisco de Montejo to conquer Yucatan. While it is highly likely that, faced with the suddenness of the attack—and defeat—the Quiches and Cakchiquels were brought down by mortal dread, the conquest of Yucatan was more difficult and took twelve years. Between 1517 and 1519, the Mayas of Yucatan had the chance to see whites, on the occasion of shipwrecks. Just as the Mexicans had omens of the coming of the Spaniards, said Diego de Landa in his Relation de las cosas de Yucatan, so the people of Yucatan experienced similar phenomena a few years before the arrival of Montejo. Finally, the fragmentation of the Maya principalities made a single decisive blow impossible. The last revolt in Yucatan on any scale occurred in 1847. From 1712 to 1860 its history is studded with uprisings.
